my new bike/chari and I hit the pavement in Tokyo

Meet Grover

January 24, 2011

So I bought a bike. Like we didn’t all see that coming.

All I know about her is this:

no gears. no cables at all. pedal brakes.

CCM. as it says on the chain ring.

looks like she was originally red. The handle grips are still red and look original. However, someone has done a quick and dirty job of painting her blue. Nice chrome fenders, I’ll need to shine them up a bit as they have some rust. I thought, in its mechanical simplicity (no cables) it might be a good bike for me to do some work on on my own. I am too afraid to touch Mabel or Maru for adjustments, so this might fill a certain niche.

Grover (did I mention Momo and I were watching Monsterpiece Theatre?) has a lovely upright position that I thought was similar to Mabel. If she can be cleaned up and if everything else is in working order, I will consider adding a rack at the back (the front basket will have to be taken care of) and possibly a new seat.

However, I have had very little time to look over Grover as, a mere 3 blocks from picking her up, my feet went into frostbite danger zone and I made the tough decision to lock her up near campus and get home as quickly as possible. It was by far the coldest day of the year and not the best day to learn to ride in the snow. It was so cold my eyeballs hurt.

She’s a little more grunge (ok, a LOT more grunge) than Maru and Mabel, and even Paris, but a step of class above the old ozark. I never thought I would own FOUR bicycles, and across continents. But at $55, how wrong could I go? Even if I were only to be able to save the mudguards and handle bars off her I would feel like I hadn’t lost anything. And let’s face it, those handle bars would look pretty darn awesome on Paris if nothing else.

AND, AND, I want to ask. HOW do people ride in this kind of weather? I read the blogs, I took the advice, I was wearing all kinds of layers and weather appropriate gear, and I still froze in 3 blocks.

I’m smitten.

Last year I decided to ditch the train in Tokyo and go by bike. I bought a Bridgestone 3 speed and off I went. What I didn't realize was that I would become completely smitten by both riding, and bikes themselves. Now I'm back in Toronto (for the time being, and I still keep that Bridgestone in Tokyo for when I am there) and still riding, and somehow acquiring bicycles.
I'm now up to six: the original Bridgestone (Mabel), a Danish Viva Bellisimo (Maru), a 1966 CCM single speed cruiser (Grover), a fold up I've had for several years (Paris), and a Fleetwing Deluxe Mixte 10-speed (Florence), and now a 3 speed Raleigh Sports I rescued from being dumped (Riley)
To me, these are my adventures...

Maru, a Vivo Bellissimo

Grover

My Paris (almost)

This is almost a photo of my fold up bike. She is a bright shiny girl for 9 years old, and works hard.

Mabel, my Beaute

This is my stable work ride, my Bridgestone 2010 Beaute. No, really, that's the model name, I didn't name my bike that. She's a strong work horse, but a heavy girl, and currently stuck in Tokyo for a bit